If I have never had an outbreak, how do I find out if I have the virus? I gave blood on a regular basis and never was told to stop because of this. I found out once the OB happened and the Doctor swabbed DEEP into the affected spot.

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Hi. I'm in the same boat as you, as I've never had an outbreak or any kind of warning symptoms. However, I was just diagnosed with HSV 2 (true genital herpes... not oral herpes on my genitals-HSV 1). It's amazing how you become an expert really fast after that... I did a lot of reading on testing, false positives, etc.

If you truly want to know for certain if you have it, you must get a blood test done. Request to have the the "HSV 2 IgG" test, and make sure it's specific to your blood type. Apparently these tests are the most accurate, with very little chance of a misdiagnosis.

If you get tested and get negative results, wait for about 3 months, and get tested once more. Apparently it takes a while for indicators in your antibodies to show up in your blood, and (as I learned) you may never have warning signs. If you get tested immediately after whatever "incident" you fear exposed you to the virus, you may get a false-negative. If you get tested twice, with a reasonable amount of time between each test, and both tests come back negative, you can be fairly certain you're in the clear.

Lots of trouble, I know, but knowing is better. If you ARE negative, make sure any future sexual partners have been tested recently, have their papers to prove it, and haven't had sexual contact since then.

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